STUDY: Working mums Raise Fat Kids

A new study in the Journal of Child Development indicates that the longer a mother works, the chubbier her child gets. (via CNN) “It’s not causal, it’s an association,” said Taryn Morrissey, who spearheaded the study.

The association is unclear, but a popular theory is that working mums are pressed for time and have to turn to fast food and restaurants to feed their families.

This is not the first time the association has been made between maternal employment and overweight children, and the idea is not a popular one.

Wen-Jui Han, an associate professor at Columbia University School of Social Work and opponent of the study, said, “We don’t have a choice. We have to go to work. How does society as a whole support working families so I still am able to provide healthy food for children, so their weight will not be compromised?”

Morrissey thinks this is all indicative of a larger problem, saying, “The bottom line is that families face many, many constraints and that policies and additional research are needed to help balance health and family life.”